


Losing Grip

by addviolence, VocaSonic



Category: Sonic Forces - Fandom, Sonic the Hedgehog - Fandom
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mental Instability, Stalking, Stockholm Syndrome, Yandere!Sonic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 20:29:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15893553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/addviolence/pseuds/addviolence, https://archiveofourown.org/users/VocaSonic/pseuds/VocaSonic
Summary: After being captured and tortured by Infinite for months, Sonic’s grasp on the world around him crumbles. But even after being rescued, can Shadow save the hero from himself - Can Shadow save himself from Sonic?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> -From a RP with VocaSonic!

Four months. It had been four months. But it sure did feel like years in this place.

Sonic fidgeted against the energy cuffs linking his wrists and ankles together. Metal floors and metal walls remained cold against his spines as he sat on the floor, spines smushed against his cell. He had messed up. Metal Sonic, Zavok, Shadow, and even Chaos himself had him beaten to a pulp and the last moments of freedom he could remember was blacking out, and hearing Tails' distressed cry. He shivered at the thought. Then he woke up here, restrained and contained in some prison unit. Over time he found out that he was only kept alive to suffer, to see the world he loved burn under Eggman's wrath. He knew the Doctor could pull some dark shit, but this was a whole new level, even for him.  
Either way, the process he had been made to go through was brutal. That masked mobian he'd seen- having introduced himself as Infinite a few months back- was put in personal charge of making Sonic's stay here a living hell. He was gonna write a very angry review about this place once he got outta here, for sure. But back in the present, Sonic would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified. He'd been tortured. Not just physically, (because who was Sonic the Hedgehog if he couldn't handle a few cuts and bruises?) but mentally. He was seeing things, introduced to a brand new, violent and scary reality that could hurt him in every way. Having your body mutilated was one thing but having your mind invaded was another. Sonic was paranoid this far into these games. Anxious for the next round, the next fight for his life.

Optimistic as he was, there's just some things that can make a hedgehog crack over time, y'know? No one could blame him for that, right? Though it would be easier to just fall asleep, never wake back up, never have to face Infinite or Eggman or this failing world again... but no, he couldn't. He had to survive, he wanted to get back to his friends. He wanted to see Tails, Amy, Knuckles, even Shadow again. So as suckish as he was at it, Sonic waited. In fear and with an odd twitch in his eye, but he waited.

Though putting on a show of destruction in front of millions at his mercy did stroke his ego immensely, Infinite had to admit to himself that he fancied this experience with Sonic behind closed doors just as much. It was all a game, and a test of his own abilities with the phantom ruby - and slowly watching the hero’s mental state deteriorate on his whim not only satisfied him but interested him in general. The jackal had slowly begun to learn what would make Sonic tick, what would really threaten to send him over the edge. And just when the blue hedgehog was about to slide off that edge into insanity, Infinite would bring him right back before he fell. This was a daily occurrence, and the effort he had to put in was akin to the mere snap of his fingers.

“The conscious mind,” he’d rattled on as he entered the chamber Sonic had been locked away in, keeping note of how crazed the hero’s eyes had become over time, “Such a delicate thing.”

Infinite had stripped just about every known layer of Sonic’s fears and anxieties down to the core, reaching in and exposing each and every one of them. Sure, there was no one else to revel in this knowledge in order to humiliate the blue hedgehog, but holding the key was just as rewarding enough if it meant that the hero was frightened of him. The jackal had hoped at times that maybe he would expose Sonic for being someone disgusting deep down inside, however was mildly disappointed and even a little angry when he realized that the cobalt truly was a selfless being. All the visions Infinite could concoct brought on by Sonic’s emotions usually seemed to depict fear over his friends’ safety, his friends’ happiness. Sure, there was the fear of not being able to run again, or to adventure again. But that had already been robbed of him yet, and now the speedster’s worries seemed to shift only towards those he couldn’t protect earlier.  
The mercenary slowly approached his subject, kneeling and delicately putting a hand beneath the fatigued cobalt’s chin in order to make their gazes meet - or, as much as they could with there being a barrier between the mask. “Sometimes I think I’d like to see you finished once and for all through this, bring on your deepest nightmare to drain all hope out of you. But then I would have to dispose of you, or I would simply grow tired of playing with you, leaving you to rot in this cell all alone for good,” he went on, clearly amused at his own thoughts.  
“Your body and mind is like a mere plant, weak and easy to crumble by my foot, but instead I keep you nourished and alive through fear. Aren’t you lucky to receive such mercy...?”

What could Infinite expose him to today, he wondered. As far as Sonic could see beforehand, his friends were done for - in a falsified reality, of course. In truth, they were free and fighting still, much to his annoyance. But if Sonic believed they were in fact defeated, then perhaps all hope for release would vanish.  
He had to think on it, but then his thoughts came together. The mercenary could still muddle his thoughts in a different sense.

“Perhaps I could give you a small taste of the outside world, however,” he then said softly, activating the phantom ruby to slowly shift Sonic’s world. In reality, Infinite was still at his side, but completely vanished within this opposing world he created for the blue blur.  
When the world would shift, Sonic would have already been freed from captivity, though the hero wouldn’t be able to remember exactly how he got out in the first place. All that had mattered was the wind in his fur and the ground at his feet, rushing home to greet his friends with his safety.  
It was beautiful outside, almost as if there had been no damage done to it before or during Sonic’s capture, the air was warm and inviting, the sun setting in the horizon. It was all so peaceful for once in contrast to most illusions Sonic was exposed to.

His friends were all waiting for him today. When the blue blur would arrive home, they’d all be sitting outside and talking amongst themselves. However, even when they noticed his presence, it wasn’t what would be expected. A few glanced at him, but then would turn and whispers amongst themselves.  
Something was off.

Sonic quivered as he felt cold fingertips grab at his muzzle but looked back at that one eye with all the paranoid attention he could muster. He didn't reply, but a small sound of curiosity left him when Infinite mentioned the outside world. Would he be seeing how his friends were? _Please don't be a graveyard_. He thought to himself as the world changed, and now he was sitting in what looked like a peaceful part of Green Hill. His limbs were free, and the air smelt fresh. Part of Sonic rejoiced in the freedom, and he stood up immediately- his body wasn't achy from not having run or even stretched for so long. This was... nice.

Too nice. Far too nice. The paranoia embedded in his mind kicked up, and immediately Sonic started looking for any danger or terrifying, out of place images. But so far, nothing. Which almost made it worse. But he wasn't just going to stand here and do nothing. Sonic jumped into a run, the blissful feeling of wind on his face something he missed all too dearly. Fear creeping up on him as he went around because everything was simply too beautiful here, he came to a sudden stop when he heard voices.

There they were- his friends. His eyes landed on the young fox first, and he released a breath Sonic didn't know he was holding. Tails was okay. At least, from here it seemed so. He ran up to them, hope laced in his tone. "Guys! Guys, I'm back! You're all okay!" The hero proclaimed more so to himself, about to embrace his little brother in a tight hug but he stuttered when he was pushed away and heard sounds of disgust around him.

"Get offa me!" Tails hissed, taking a few steps back.

The hope the blue hedgehog once had quickly started to drain. "Tails... it's me, I'm back home, I'm okay. _You're_ okay-" He spoke, interrupted by a rather angry looking Knuckles who had stepped up in front of Tails.

“You should be.” Knuckles spat at Sonic, “You’re a terrible person, Sonic. It’s gross to think that after all this time, you believe you can just come back here and expect us to call you a hero again? _You failed_.”

Sonic bit the inside of his lip. That hurt more than the past 4 months of torture he’d gone through. Tears had swelled up in the corners of his vision, but they didn’t dare spill until he heard the familiar chirp of Amy’s voice. “I don’t know why I ever loved you.” She said. And more and more voices of his friends piped in, agreeing and stating their own remarks.

“You don’t belong here.”

“You were never a hero.”

“You let us down.”

Sonic snapped. “ _I made a mistake!_ ” He shouted, and all the voices stopped momentarily. It was silent, awkward glances of disapproval and disgust being exchanged. “I’m sorry.” Sonic apologized softly. “I didn’t mean to.” He recovered his cool, but not for long.

“I hate you.” Tails said. “I hate you and I never want to see you again.”

And that was it. Sonic crumbled inside. Hearing those words from Tails was just like if someone shot him point blank. So, he did the only thing he knew how to do. _Run_.

He turned quick and left with an audible rip of the sound barrier. Sonic screamed, just a lone yell into the world before it started turning into audible words. “STOP IT. STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!” He said repeatedly, tripping over something on the ground and falling face first into the soft dirt. This was a nightmare. And everything around him was still so bright, so nice, so perfect. It was like being taunted. Like everything in this world was the way it was supposed to be but him. He was the imperfection. His friends didn’t want him, a mistake.

He propped himself up on his elbows, belly and legs still flat on the grass. His head glanced up into the sky, and he smacked down into the ground again- _hard_. Maybe he was just worthless now. Everything was perfect without him. Maybe he should just go back and ask Eggman to finish him off, he didn’t have a purpose anymore.

Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. And Infinite was absolutely rejoicing at the scene before him as if he’d not seen the blue hedgehog suffer countless times already, all by his doing. Today Sonic was rather lively in his distress, which was always a treat to behold. The jackal felt the fur on his pelt quiver in delight at the hero’s morbid cries, and he’d almost been tempted to drag Sonic out of his current nightmare in the middle of his panic, only to immediately succumb him to another.  
But there was an interruption, sirens around the Death Egg blaring to let it be known that there was an unwelcome visitor aboard. The jackal glanced at the door, then back to Sonic in contemplation. If the hero had come out of this state and calmed down fast enough, he may have something planned - and Infinite wanted to ruin those plans. There was absolutely no way anyone could escape with Sonic acting this way. There was no way to be quiet or discrete, and surely the cobalt would be too much of a liability to drag out of here.

 

Shrugging, Infinite then decided to go looking for the intruder himself, and leave Sonic here in his nightmares in the meanwhile. He’d return when business was over. After all, if he merely lingered around here and waited, surely the doctor would be getting ahold and scolding him.

Meanwhile, Shadow had been working a different agenda in taking down the Death Egg. He knew he could handle such a simple task - how many times was the Doctor planning to rebuild this foundation after all? Sure, he was currently winning and proved to be a now plausible adversary, but this was such an easy step to take in reclaiming victory.

At first, the ebony hedgehog had kept himself hidden in taking down some of the systems. But after he’d been spotted by a camera and the alarms went off, the ultimate lifeform just went forth in destroying just about anything he could. Shadow no longer cared for being discrete so long as he could just get out of here quickly with the job being done, and so far, it was proven to be almost too easy with half of the foundation already destroyed in his path. So far, he didn’t run into any other trouble after being caught, but he was moving so fast that it was hard to be detected yet again.  
He wasn’t giving much of anything a second thought right now in completing his task - that is, until he’d stumbled upon a certain dreary chamber. The ebon froze when he heard yelling, his fur practically standing on end. It sounded clearly distressed, but morbidly so. The voice was too familiar, but he’d never heard it with such agony.

_Sonic...?_

When it clicked in his head, the ultimate lifeform quickly headed towards the source. He was prepared to fight, an aggressive demeanor being carried towards anyone he thought he was about to have to face in order to rescue the blue blur, though he was also having to wash away an intense wave of relief in knowing Sonic was alive after all.

But when he got to the cell, no one was there but Sonic all by himself. Now Shadow was confused but had no time to ponder it over as he rushed to the other’s side. Trying to break the energy cuffs off, Shadow was showing frustration above any other mixed emotion he had been feeling in the moment.

“Chaos, Sonic, you had everyone worried to death...!” He grunted under his breath, “I can’t believe after all this whiny bullshit with everyone thinking you’re dead, you’re here and you’re fine.”  
Forming a chaos spear in his palm, the ebon wedged it between each cuff to bust them open, and once he realized that Sonic wasn’t in any shape to run out of here at his side, the ultimate lifeform scooped the cobalt into his arms. “Don’t ever make me have to do this for you again,” he grunted. “Next time, I’m leaving you.”

Sonic was outright crying by the time Shadow got to him, sniffling rather loudly and dry tear tracks on his cheeks. His reality warped again as he felt himself lift out of grass and into someplace cold, lights blaring all around and _booms_ of explosions hitting his ears. He was being touched, he was being grabbed. His vision fuzzily tried to focus on who was with him, because it sure wasn't Infinite. He couldn't talk, his throat was too sore, but he could've sworn that he was seeing one of the people who put him in here in the first place. _Shadow...?_

Frankly touch starved, when he was scooped up rather clunkily- his spines still sharp and on alert as ever- Sonic was waiting to be thrown. Waiting for pain. Something to hurt, anything. But... it never came. His senses were thrown into override, and in reality, the hedgehogs escaped from the prison exploding around them. But to Sonic, all he felt were the blasts, the sting of the ringing in his ears, and the feeling of a constant warmth. That last one being Shadow's arms holding him up and his muzzle being mashed into that white fluff on his chest. _Shadow. I'm with Shadow. This is Shadow. Shadow's touching me. Shadow's taking me somewhere. Why? What does he want to do with me? Shadow hates me. Is this really Shadow? I've gone crazy, haven't I? Why Shadow? His mind ran crazy with thoughts full of his rival._

Shadow’s priorities changed immediately, having focused on just getting out of this place to get Sonic back home where he belonged. The ebon didn’t want to run into any foes, so he found himself rushing through the destroyed part of the facility to avoid anyone on the other side. The ebon managed to dodge Infinite this time, and as soon as he leaped out of the Death Egg, he hit the ground running, holding Sonic tightly in his grasp. What a pathetic sight to see...  
_What happened to him?_

Right now, the ultimate lifeform assumed that the best thing for Sonic right now was to be taken home to his friends. At least, in any normal case that sounded about right. Shadow didn’t stop, didn’t pester him with questions, didn’t do anything to try and bother the other. No, the ebon only made certain to serve as his protector for the time being, as much as he had wanted to talk to Sonic. But even then, he couldn’t rush for answers: Sonic had obviously been through a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -3/7/2019  
> Spelling and grammar updated.  
> ~addviolence


	2. Chapter 2

Once they returned to Tails' workshop, far enough away from Sonic's former prison (or at least now, the remains of it) Sonic only clung tighter to Shadow. Looking at his surroundings they were in a more peaceful part of town, but the air seemed heavier, the colors around bleaker. This had to be due to the war, but it was still very unsettling for the hero.

 

Everything about this was normal by now to the others around the house, Knuckles noticing Shadow first as he approached them. Or at least, he noticed what, or more so,  _ who _ he was carrying in his arms. "Sonic...?" Knuckles muttered under his breath, looking back at the darker hedgehog with a curious eye. "He's alive? What happened?"

“I found him in captivity on the Death Egg. The Doctor must have kept him down there to torture. However...” the ebon muttered, glancing down at the shaken hero. “I couldn’t picture even him causing this much damage.”

 

Shadow sighed, having then decided to delicately place Sonic back down into his feet. He hadn’t been entirely sure how fatigued the hero may have felt, so he kept a steady hand on the other’s shoulder just in case.

“I have suspicion this is more so the doing of the Doctor’s new ally,” the ultimate lifeform mused, though he hadn’t asked Sonic directly. He didn’t want to pressure him into talking about his clearly horrific experience, especially not so soon after his rescue.

 

“It’s better he’s home now though. Right, Sonic?” Shadow then questioned, wanting to at least make sure the other male was conscious enough to be able to remain present in the conversation at hand.

 

Knuckles grimaced at how Sonic more so sunk down to Shadow's feet, seeing the half-crazed look in his eyes. The hero immediately clung to Shadow's side, nodding shakily a few seconds after he registered that he was being talked to. His throat felt dry and raw. Shadow was with him. That's all he felt like he could trust, he couldn't be sure if anything else here was real _. _ Usually he knew if things were an illusion or not due to Infinite always taunting him after, but that hadn't happened this time. Was he still in an illusion? If so, Shadow was probably in it with him. He must've been captured too...

 

"Well, don't just stand there, let's get him inside. I know Tails is gonna flip." Knuckles grunted, truly relieved to have his friend back home safe. He wouldn't show it, but he was genuinely happy on the inside. Sonic was back, so surely things would start to look up soon. Or so he hoped.

 

Sonic walked in with Shadow and Knuckles guiding his every step on either side of his shoulder. He was okay with Shadow's hand on him, but once Knuckles tried to do the same, he flinched in uncertainty. If this was an illusion, it wasn't long before things would warp and start attacking him instead of luring him into a false hope.

When there was a loud clattering noise of wrenches and other metal tools hitting the floor, Sonic tensed up and almost jumped behind Shadow, as if he was some sort of protective wall. The scurried pitter patter of sneakers running up and short arms suddenly hugging him was already startling enough. Wet- his chest was becoming wet. Sonic was hyper aware of everything now, and he looked down to see Tails' face looking back up at him, the young boy crying silently in what seemed like utter relief and over joyousness. "You're  _ alive. _ " Tails spoke softly. This triggered Sonic to start sobbing again too, but in a much more violent manner than the kid hugging him so tightly.

 

Sonic felt his knees give out on him, practically rag dolling to the floor and scooting back until his head hit the next obstacle that prevented him from going any farther. Sonic whimpered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he was just expecting everything to backfire now. Tails had to hate him, he had to.

At this point, Shadow was beginning to realize how insanely abnormal Sonic’s behavior was in response to seeing his friends. The ebon assumed it was merely stress from his capture before, but the hero didn’t even seem happy in the least bit to see those dear to him. He was confused, of course. It was plausible that Sonic could have developed post-traumatic stress disorder, but what part of his brother hugging him would trigger Sonic to have a breakdown like this? This was his family, shouldn’t he have been more comfortable to see them then he was his rescuer? Sonic hadn’t reacted as badly to the GUN agent earlier today as he was to others now, and he was starting to notice it. Maybe he could get answers with this at least.

 

Shadow was quiet, putting his hands up in a more defensive manner to show Sonic he meant no harm as he approached him cautiously. The black hedgehog got down to his knees slowly at first before making his way even closer to sit next to the crying hedgehog. Before saying anything, the ultimate lifeform’s ears then perked slightly in further confusion when he had heard Sonic apologizing.

 

“Why are you sorry...?” Shadow questioned, the apology being repeated having made the dark hedgehog doubt that Sonic was merely overwhelmed with there being a crowd.

 

Sonic’s sobs calmed to a whimpering as Shadow slid down to sit next to him, grabbing his arm and pulling it close to his chest. “I failed, I failed you all.”

 

Tails looked uneasy, the sight of Sonic being such a mess almost pulling the kit to the same place before Knuckles put an arm around him protectively. “Sonic...?” Tails spoke softly, only to be ignored. Instead, the fallen hero clutched at Shadow tighter, chest heaving as he tried to relax. Sonic ended up burying his face in that white fluff again, the feeling of hiding, warmth and familiarity calming the panicking hedgehog down.

 

And it showed. It might’ve been a little weird for Knuckles or Tails to see blue spines flattening in response, and Sonic getting over his fit- but hey, it was...good?

 

Shadow stiffened momentarily in surprise when the other reached for him, having expected just the mere acceptance of his presence if nothing more. If anything drastic, the ebon would’ve thought Sonic would push him away instead. This was... odd. And with eyes on him, he had no explanation to offer Knuckles, nor Tails.

 

“You haven’t failed anyone. You’re home now, remember?” Shadow pointed out. Now, the ultimate lifeform was not the best equipped for handling emotional situations on someone else’s behalf like this, so he wasn’t entirely sure what more he could say in order to calm Sonic. But he couldn’t just do nothing, right? The hero obviously expected something from him if he was comfortable enough to be around him above his own friends.

 

Ruby eyes met with the guardian’s briefly, silently telling him that he needed a moment with the speedster alone. Sighing softly, Shadow took advantage of the breach of his personal space to whisper to his rival. “Will you come talk to me outside...?” He questioned, his tone as soft and smooth as it could possibly be.

 

Knuckles briefly nodded in return, ushering Tails aside. At least he knew Sonic was alive, and they could reminiscence on that while Shadow took care of things. Things being, well, Sonic.

 

Speaking of which, Sonic whispered a short “yes,” to Shadow, clinging still as he was helped to his feet and they went out the door again. “This is so strange.” Sonic muttered under his breath, comparing in his head how everything felt. Shadow was warm, alive, real. The outside seemed like a false hope, unpredictable. Shadow… was not.

 

Shadow didn’t want to upset Sonic further, but the other  _ was _ starting to make him uncomfortable with all the touching now as they went outside. So, he subtly tried to peel away from his rival’s grip when they got out the door beneath the sunset. There wasn’t much out here, that was for sure, but the area was still very much peaceful. Shadow sat on a stump in the ground, head tilted somewhat curiously at Sonic’s comment.

 

“Out here?” He responded. “You’re right. It took adjusting to for me personally, but I can’t imagine this is what you’re used to either,” Shadow went on, agreeing with the cobalt - though the ebon truly thought maybe Sonic was just going on about the outside scenery to shield away from talking about his issues out of embarrassment for the scene he just caused inside. He genuinely had no clue to the other possibility of what Sonic had truly meant, for he hadn’t known enough details about the other’s torture yet.

 

Sonic shook his head as he plopped onto the stump beside Shadow, crossing his legs naturally as he kept his eyes on the darker hedgehog. “No, no no no.  _ This. _ ” Sonic motioned to everything around them, explaining. “I-I can’t tell if any of this is here. Any second this could all disappear into red, glitchy,  _ madness _ and I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why. I don’t know.” Sonic tore his stare away to glance at the sky, as if the sunset would rip apart at any given moment. “Infinite’s always watching, but he hasn’t revealed himself, and I think that’s because of you, Shadow. Infinite already has me to watch after, he can’t multitask two hedgehogs, because he’s a moron like that.” As soon as those last words slipped out of Sonic’s mouth, a gloved hand was soon to cover it in haste, and Sonic was now looking for anything that could potentially harm him due to his big mouth. It wouldn’t have been the first time he would be punished for something like that.

 

In turn, Sonic scooted closer to Shadow as his voice hushed lower. “But you’re real, Shadow. You’re real, I think.”

 

As crazy as Sonic may have sounded, the black hedgehog listened to what he had to say regardless. And now, piecing it together, more of this made sense. Infinite had gotten inside of his own mind once, and that alone had been a daunting experience. But months of being captured and subjected to the same means of torturous confusion was bound to fuck with someone’s head. The hero’s paranoia was justified in its entirety. But Shadow knew he had no reason to be worried anymore, and now needed to convince him of that.

 

“I am real,” the ebony confirmed, ushering a few centimeters away from the other again, clearly preferring more distance between them still. “This is all real though,” Shadow went on. “I went on the Death Egg to destroy it and found you there, and I broke you out of their prison. This isn’t Infinite’s game. Those are your friends in there, they’ve been worried sick that you were dead for  _ months. _ ”

 

Sonic kept closing the distance between them, not minding that the other would pull away. He just wanted to be in contact with Shadow- a physical crutch he would trust over a thought in his mind. “Yeah, that’s why you’re real, you changed this reality. You made it go your way.” He concluded. Yes. Shadow was definitely real now - he said and confirmed it out loud. He rebuked the last part still, however. “But what if that’s just an illusion? Next thing you know, they’ll literally be stabbing me in the back! I can’t trust them, I can’t trust that! You might be in here with me, but Infinite could still be in control.” He said warily, curling his knees to his chest. Sonic was trying to keep his breathing controlled, a few faster-than-they-should-be breaths escaping him anyways.

 

“It...” Shadow started, pausing his sentence to grunt in disapproval forwards the other’s persistence in getting closer, wishing maybe the other would take the hint by now. The agent slid away again, this time on the edge of the stump now, having nearly fallen off. “...It isn’t an illusion,” he then continued. “I didn’t change anything other than the reality of your situation. Infinite has no control over this, and your friends aren’t going to do anything to harm you,” he tried to persuade the other to listen to reason. But Sonic’s mind was just not rational right now, so Shadow doubted he’d listen immediately - still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to stop trying to convince him either.

 

“Besides, I’ve been under Infinite’s faulty reality before as well. I had no control then, why would I suddenly have that power now? In a world he created specifically for you? That makes no sense and you know it too,” Shadow explained. “This is real life, Sonic.”

 

Sonic’s lips tightened in a line at Shadow’s words. He really wanted everything to be okay, he did want this to be reality, but part of him hated that Shadow was probably right. “I wanna trust you Shadow. But… to tell you the truth, I’m scared. Actually, I’m terrified. I feel like everything is gonna fall apart and you’re the only thing that won’t.” Sonic clutched at Shadow’s hand, squeezing it briefly. “I’ll try and believe you best I can, but I don’t think I can alone. Not now.” He looked at Shadow, experimentally pushing his limits to see how nice his rival would be to him. “I feel better around you. Don’t feel like you gotta, but could you-could I stick around you for a bit? Is that too much?”

He felt that maybe this was the best he could get from Sonic right now - a soft, exasperated sigh escaping his lips when once again his space was violated. But this time, the ebon allowed it.

“I suppose that.. makes sense. This is stressful for you clearly, after all,” he muttered. “Nothing is going to fall apart though, and I’ll keep reminding you of that until it gets through to you. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

 

Shadow then remained hesitant at Sonic’s request, wondering if enabling this behavior and thought process would harm his re-adaptation to the real world. Surely, the faker only meant a night though.. That wouldn’t be too bad.

 

“Fine,” the ebon then agreed as he pulled his hand out of the other’s grasp. “But tomorrow, we’re coming back and you’re going to let Tails check you over,” Shadow then added on, holding his hand out to his rival once again, but only for a mere handshake, “Deal?”

 

"O-okay... deal. If you can be there with me." Sonic slowly nodded, still a little bit shaky. He grabbed at the offered hand, shaking it gently, but not letting go until Shadow wanted to pull away.

“We’ll see,” Shadow answered, having known he could easily be called into work at any point of the day. He couldn’t promise anything, so he wouldn’t. Feeling their hands were interlocked for an awkward amount of time now, the ebon removed his own first.

"Thank you. And thank you for uh, saving me I guess." Sonic fell silent, feeling a little bit shameful. He was supposed to be a hero, supposed to be strong for everyone, and here he was, clinging to his rival like a toddler and his parent. "So where are we going then?" He asked, timidly curious about where Shadow lived. Sonic didn't think he'd been where Shadow resided before.

 

“You’ve saved me plenty of times yourself. It’s only fair I returned the favor,” he assured. “Besides, everyone needed you back. You’re the only hope anyone here has to cling to.”

 

Turning his back then, Shadow then silently gestured for the hero to follow him. He started at a slow pace, but gradually he picked up speed as a silent challenge for his rival to race him there - perhaps that would help pick up his spirit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -3/7/2019  
> Spelling and grammar updated.  
> ~addviolence


End file.
